44 RENFREWSHIRE EXCURSIONS. 



of Somerled, Lord of the Isles, when he made his descent upon 

 Renfrew in 1164. 



Port-Glasgow Parish. — One of the most easily accessible of 

 the glens in the West open to the public is Devol's Glen, in this 

 parish. It was once visited by the Society early in its history, but 

 there is no minute left. It is a locality which well repays a visit 

 for its beds of volcanic ash with embedded bombs, its flows of 

 trap with zeolitic minerals (stilbite prominently), its fine falls and 

 rapid cascades, while the botany is also of considerable interest 

 for both phanerogamic and cryptogamic forms. 



Inverkip Parish. — This parish has been the scene of several 

 excursions, notable among these being one of the "Trees of 

 Renfrewshire " series, and a later one conjointly with the Natural 

 History Society of Glasgow to Shielhill Glen. Gourock was 

 the rendezvous on the occasion of the first of these. The party 

 proceeded by the Larkfield road, and in a field on the left of the 

 road, near Cove Farm, they visited a great maple which stands 

 solitary there (girth at 3 feet 10 inches on south side, 10 feet 

 10 inches). The next halt was at Cresswell Farm, on the 

 Inverkip road, where in a field close to the farmhouse stands 

 another fine great maple (girth, 9 feet 6| inches at 2 feet 5 inches 

 on south-west side). In proximity to this tree stands an ash 

 which attracted attention (girth at 5 feet 3 inches on south-south- 

 west side of trunk, 9 feet 6| inches). Before entering the policies 

 of Ardgowan, Mimulus luteus and the masterwort (Peiuedamim 

 Ostruthiuni) were found. Ardgowan, as we know it, is one of the 

 most delightful estates in the county. It seems to owe much to 

 the taste of Sir John Shaw Stewart, the fourth baronet, who early 

 in this century erected the present mansion house. Robertson, 

 who wrote the continuation of Crawfurd's history of the county, 

 informs us that the improvements effected by him " were upon the 

 most extensive scale," that he surrounded the new house "with 

 an extensive park, and the gardens, pleasure grounds, and ample 

 plantations which he planned, afford striking proof of the excel- 

 lency of his taste." The beauties which owe their inception to 

 this member of the Shaw Stewart family have matured in the 

 intervening years, with the result (heightened, doubtless, by the 



